maybe in another universe
by holmesfreak1412
Summary: AU Prompts. Drabble/Oneshot series. Azula and Ty Lee in various universes.
1. Set One

Title: multiverse

Author: holmesfreak1412

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Pairing: Azula & Ty Lee

Genre: Romance, General

Rating: T

Summary: AU prompts. Ty Lee and Azula in all possible universes.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the ATLA franchise or any of the movies mentioned.

Author's Note: Unfortunately, I am bored and I need an outlet of frustration. Just lemme take one corner of the fandom to dump my musings here. I accept requests too.

This is tagged as COMPLETE but I will still continue to update anytime that I am in the mood to do so so keep the requests coming.

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 **multiverse**

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 **001 The Little Mermaid**

The golden eyes that stare back at her makes Ty Lee special, makes Ty Lee not feel like one of the Neptune's six beautiful daughters anymore. And for once, she feels her breath taken for the first time since she emerged from the surface, since she made it through the storm with the impossibly beautiful human who got separated from her ship.

The same pair of yellow orbs closes, red soft lips mutter a sigh and the mermaid gently lays down the girl's limp body on the sands, sneaking one last look, feathering one more kiss on the flushed cheek and hoping against hope that the human got a good enough look to remember. Her. Ty Lee.

She dives back to her home and the little mermaid cannot help but think that she is leaving her heart behind, clutched in the human's dainty fingers and that she does not mind coming back for it someday.

She wonders what Koh would want in exchange for a pair of legs.

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 **002 Sky High**

'Maybe it is not so bad to be a hero too, Azula." Ty Lee says as she watches the ragtag team of Zuko and Aang pummel Zhao and his sidekick around the arena before ultimately saving the day. The mannequin is safe, unscathed from the menacing blades of doom. In the court below, the bald airbending kid from the hero class awkwardly offers his hand to the notorious outcast of the villains.

The crowd cheers. The heroes pumping their fists. Ty Lee tries not to cheer with them.

Azula glances sideways at her, the scowl pronounced on her face like the rest of their classmates from the villain class. "Are you kidding Ty Lee? You'll always just be a sidekick."

She stands when her name is called for the adversaries. From the heroes: Katara of the Water Tribe prepares herself. "And I will always be a villain."

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 **003 Fifty Shades of Grey**

"She is inspiring, intimidating, almost terrifying. It's hard to explain." Ty Lee gushed to her friend Mai who in her own detached way, demanded the details of her interview with the country's most influential young woman. The drumming fingers. The tantalizing eyes. The smooth, silky words as she fluidly answered her stuttered out questions. It is all Ty Lee can remember. It is all Ty Lee needs to remember to feel… to feel… "I just cannot believe that you are dating her brother! Do they really belong in the same gene pool?"

She finds herself recalling the exact same words, the exact same conversation as Azula opens the door to show Ty Lee her "questionable tastes".

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 **004 Kill Bill**

"I am just starting a new life Azula. I hope you understand." She murmurs to the woman as her groom approaches. He looks nowhere like the princess she has always dreamed of. His eyes are not gold. His smile is not as captivating as the smirk that she fantasized every night. He is a he. Their child would not have royal blood. Their child would not firebend. Their child would not be Azula's. "Hi dear…"

He smiles, looks over shoulder, brightens. "So… who do we have here?" He is not Azula. He would nowhere be like Azula.

But at least no child of hers would be trained to be a murderer like the two of them.

"This is my bestfriend. Azula." And graciously, the woman she loves and the man she chose shake hands.

"Thanks for coming."

"I would never miss it for the world."

Ty Lee does not hear Azula's heart break.

But she hears the sound of fireballs, the screams of agony and sees Azula's face, in her most sadistic, in her most masochistic. And there is darkness for the next four years.

Azula should have killed ten.

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 **005 Toy Story**

Age 3: What she will later know as Princess Ursa picks her… her, Ty Lee among the matched set of identical dolls displayed in the fair. "I think her name is Ty Lee." Her creator says, eyes shining in ways that Ty Lee never saw since she became aware of her surroundings. The elegant woman only nods, stretches her arms to her creator and the man who made Ty Lee and her sisters, squeals in unconcealed delight. There is a series of sounds and Ty Lee is passed from one hand to another before darkness ultimately prevails.

The next time she sees light, it is with a pretty child with a wide grin, introducing herself as Azula and promising that they would be best friends forever.

Age 4: They are inseparable. The Princess and her pink doll. The Father Prince disapproves. The Mother Princess thinks it is the cutest thing. Azula just smiles and in her moments alone whenever she is free to, Ty Lee is content.

Age 5: Zuzu accidentally steps on her, breaks one side of her porcelain face. She hears Azula scream, Zuzu falter unintelligibly. Ty Lee smells the pungent stench of something burning. Ty Lee is never happier to have seen Princess Ursa barge in during their playtime.

There are still cracks when Azula's mother finishes fixing her. The child hugs her in relief, does not let go until Ozai comes to take her.

Age 6: Azula does not play with her that much anymore. She spends all the time on the bedroom shelves, gathering dust.

Age 7: One night in the shelf, in the infrequent times that Azula does not crash to bed instantly, Ty Lee discovers that the Princess now has a new playmate. The fire burns in her hand and the flash in Azula's eyes that Ty Lee has always longed to see is not reserved for her alone anymore.

Age 8: No doll ever comes to accompany her in her lonely nights. Ty Lee would later find out that Azula set her most recent present—an Earth Kingdom doll prettier than her- on fire.

Age 9: Azula picks her up from the shelf for the first time in years. Ty Lee would have shrieked in happiness if Azula is not sobbing about a mother who did not bother to say goodbye.

Age 11: Ozai starts visiting his daughter in her chambers.

Age 12: Azula learns that crying out in pain only excites her tormentor.

Age 14: The last time Ty Lee sees Azula, she is talking to no one but speaks, fights, throws her hairbrush to the mirror and sobs, sobs, sobs, because the pain is too much and all the little girl that hugged and cherished Ty Lee years ago wants is for it to go away.

For the first time since her creation, the doll twitches in plain sight. Ty Lee leaps off the shelf and walks towards Azula, small hands touching the much bigger, trembling ones. The Princess does not seem surprised that she does anymore and tells Ty Lee that she really must be crazy to be seeing things after all.

Azula does not burn her.

….

 **I accept requests because I am bored and hopelessly stuck in a ficcing phase. Just drop a review about any movie/TV show/anime that you want me to take a shot at. Tell me what you think.**


	2. Set Two

**006 Hell's Kitchen**

 _-as prompted by promiscouslesbian_

"You call this a Pelmeni?" A clatter of silverware. Terrified flinches. The drain slurps the noodles and Ty Lee watches helplessly as each thread vanish into the sewers. She has promised when she joined the cooking contest that she will never falter, not in her competition and definitely not at the formidable Chef Azula. But even the dreadful thought of embarrassing herself in national television does not keep the tears at bay. Azula curls her lip in disgust and moves into a tirade about inadequate culinary schools and its incompetent students, prods some more on the other contestant's imperfect beginnings. Ty Lee imagines that she would have cursed if she was not trained for censorship.

Hell. Kitchen. Indeed.

"Too bitter!" And in seconds the sauce that Ty Lee took a painstaking effort to make becomes inedible, is spilled on the floor as booted feet inconsiderately steps on the puddle. "It's supposed to be crispy. Do it again." Ty Lee does. "You overstirred it. Don't use the electric batter this time." And Ty Lee follows. "You have been here for several weeks, Ty Lee. Haven't you learned?"

The painful thing is that this happens every week, every episode. Their interactions go viral everytime. Poor, poor Ty Lee becomes a Facebook name each week. She is the laughingstock of the internet.

"I mean, I studied under the best chef in history. Her uncle!" It was seven years of tutelage and Ty Lee, the only one to have survived amongst the seven apprentices (which happened to be her sisters) definitely knows how to make pelmeni, the best sauce, is too meticulous to undercook a marinated strip of meat and definitely is too careful to realize that egg whites had been blended enough. "I just don't understand. Her. Why must she always fixate on me?"

The cameraman nods in sympathy. Ty Lee wonders if Azula would see this.

Six left. The competition is tight. "But Chef Azula, it is almost—"

"Almost is not good enough." She takes the ladle from Ty Lee, tells her tersely that this is how the job is done.

The abuse, the utter humiliation lasts until the end of the season.

But somehow, Ty Lee feels more enlightened, has learned so much more in the few weeks being badmouthed in camera than those seven years with Iroh.

It is in the finale as for the first time Azula shakes her hand in congratulations (and smiles! That beautiful smile) that Ty Lee realizes that the terrifying chef was doing her a big favor all along.

And that the whole country ships them together.

…

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 **007 The Hunger Games**

- _as prompted by Streetlight Eyes_

 _._

Why she fell for the crazy, temperamental, insufferable victor is forever a mystery to Ty Lee. Azula who rolls her tantalizing, golden eyes at every mention of manners, who laughingly encourages her tributes to be unfashionable savages and who openly mocks her current favorite color scheme except for last year, when she decided to keep her natural brown hair and wear relatively normal clothes. And Azula, who told her she looks better without makeup.

"And you look better sober!" She forever discourages Azula of her drug problem, forever warns her of its effect on her aura. But Azula does not really care about those "superficial things" anymore. Eversince Azula emerged from the Games five years ago, gone is the girl who cleverly manipulated lightning after essentially winning the Games with her words. Gone is the charmer that Cesar Flickerman gushed about for days, the girl who wore her topknot so impeccably it became the Capitol's hairdo for a whole year. Gone is the beautiful, perfect, smart girl that Ty Lee, only a stylist at the time, has harbored a schoolgirl crush on.

In her place, is the broken, unstable orphan who she falls in love so hard with that she is not sure of where her allegiances lie anymore.

…

..

 **008 Liar Game**

 **.**

Ty Lee, the infamous stupidly honest girl takes lessons from an equally notorious con artist.

Had Aunt Wu foretold that she would be stuck in this situation—where she had to guard a hundred million through the wiles of deception—even good, old, naïve Ty Lee who puts a penny to a Lost and Found station, would not have believed her.

"The key to winning this game is to not trust anyone." The ex convict Azula drones, fingering through sheaves of bank notes, tapping manicured nails rhythmically on the table. She inhales the smell, smiles. Ty Lee thinks that the girl would have been considered schoolgirl pretty, like the Queen Bees in her highschool if only Azula's face is not so recognizable as the girl who singlehandedly bypassed Ba Sing Se Bank['s state of the art security. Now, Azula is just dangerously beautiful. Beautiful but still dangerous.

It makes Ty Lee's gut churn, her insides tingle.

"Every player is out to get you. Every player is determined to con you. The trick is you have to learn that in order to survive this game. After all, even your own shadow leaves you in darkness."

Ty Lee squirms uncomfortably, meets those gorgeous golden eyes. "But I trust you." Because it is true. In this cutthroat game of gambling and deception, she trusts no one but the fugitive she has managed to recruit.

"Then you are a fool." Azula shrugs, shakes her head. "You should not trust me. I might double cross you in the end, take all the millions with me, vanish from the face of the Earth and leave you to rot in your one hundred million debt."

"You wouldn't."

"I did it once. I can do it again."

"But I know you."

This seems to perk Azula's interest. She narrows her eyes, puts down the money she has been caressing. "You know me?" The mocking jest is hard to hide.

Stupidly, honest Ty Lee does not even notice the haughty taunt. "Well, yeah. We've been together in this for a while now. You're a nice person. Nicer than you give yourself credit." In fact. Ty Lee could go on. That Azula is the most beautiful, perfect, girl in the world. But the infatuated girl settles for the lesser of her embarrassing thoughts about her intriguing accomplice. "I think you're the nicest person I have met so far. And I met a lot."

Azula stares at her wide-eyed.

Ty Lee smiles back earnestly.

Applause. Slow clap. Azula chuckles. "I didn't expect this from you Ty Lee." She finally says and there is almost a hint of pride in her tone. Ty Lee's heart swells. "I think you are becoming a great student. You are quite a good liar now."

….

.

 **009 Titanic**

 **.**

They tell her that the majestic ship is where all dreams come true. And what more elusive an aspiration is nowadays but freedom from the land of the oppressed? Ty Lee sees the girl of her dreams high up in the balcony of the First Class, her glorious frame illuminated by the brilliant sun. Gold eyes meet brown before it averts at the beck of a distinguished-looking, scarred man and she is gone. Beside her, Suki cranes her elbow, nudges Ty Lee's ribs but she is too enamored, too enchanted by the unbelievably beautiful rich girl to notice the guffaws, the laughter of her fellow refugees at her expense.

She is thinking, fantasizing of her when they meet in the same railings that same night. When the golden-eyed stranger incapacitates one man with her bare fists and throws the other overboard. The stench of alcohol makes Ty Lee scrunch her nose. She sports a look of surprise as she steps forward. She did not know that rich, pampered kids who spent their childhoods in fancy palanquins can fight like that.

"They assaulted me." The girl mentions, frowning at her appearance. Ty Lee grins, tells her that they definitely picked the wrong person.

"She helped me." She tells the scarred man later as he barges in frantically to their rather interesting exchange of stories. In that moment, the illusion breaks. And this regal woman is not the girl who laughed at her jokes as they threw the other man in the seas but the noblewoman who is almost as pretty as a princess again. "Her name is Ty Lee. And those men assaulted me. I did not act without provocation."

"Azula. If this is one of your lies, I swear…"

'You'll put me back to the loony bin?" Azula waves an arm off dismissively. "Don't worry Zuzu. I'll try my best to get along with peasants. See, I am even associating with Ty Lee here. I'll be a good girl. And besides, it's only a few days before we come back to the palace."

The man—Zuzu—turns to Ty Lee. "So you saved my sister?"

"Um. Yeah. I guess."

"Well, thanks." He extends an arm, expecting it to be shaken. Now miffed, Ty Lee reluctantly grabs a hold. "For my gratitude, I must invite you to the party being held in honor of my sister's engagement. That's tomorrow."

"But sir! I have nothing suitable—"

"Oh, don't fret yourself over it." Her new friend puts a heavy hand on her shoulder and gives her a smirk that she is sure only she can see. "I am sure Mai here can help you with that."

A grunt comes from the gloomy woman standing beside Zuko.

'Well, we must bid you goodnight then, Lady Ty Lee." The refugee flushes. Zuzu takes Azula's arm by the elbow and pulls her. "Azula, we must go."

Azula does not wave her goodbye. Ty Lee is too stunned to wish her sweet dreams.

But on second thought, at least they would see each other again.

She will remember it later as the catalyst— the sweet first meeting- that would lead to the most erotic moment of her life.

…

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 **010 Jurassic World**

 **.**

As the head honchos of the project are usually fond of saying, the cracking of dinosaur eggs is akin to opening a jack-in-a-box. Many anticipating eyes trained. Each movement recorded by the minute. You never know what comes out: a raptor instead of the mere scavenging compys, a rex instead of an apatosaur. But the scientists were ready for surprises until the last batch of eggs spawned creatures only thought to exist in myth.

So nobody have an idea how to contain a dragon—firebreathing, flying lizards with intelligent gold eyes that many a worker swore to glare like the most diabolical of murderers-, much less train one.

Until Ty Lee, recently dismissed with honors from the military, sets her sights on the beasts and instantly falls in love with one.

"You say these dragons are girls?" she asks the cowering attendant, who has one eye focused on the hissing giants. The five reptiles slithers smoothly around the vast ground, bright, golden orbs fixed on the humans behind the glass.

"Well, we took necessary precautions to ensure—"

"But those are males. The red ones I mean." She looks squarely, casually meeting the eyes of the growling animals. Ty Lee waves her hands to them and she could swear with amusement, that they actually seem startled at the attention. The poor boys. They must have been used to everyone fearing them. "Except the blue one though. She is a total girly."

"Well, she…" the attendant curls his lip, his discomfort as clear as the pretty, blue dragon's growing curiosity. Ty Lee beams at her. Imperceptibly, gold eyes widen. She never saw such an intelligent creature before, even in her brief stint at the circus. "… is the most dangerous out of the bunch."

"Nonsense." Ty Lee dismisses, eagerly pressing her face against the glass. "These babies just need some love."

It took months but it eventually pays off. Ty Lee soon gets to the point that nobody in the park has ever been to before: a rapport with the resident monsters. "They even have names now." The attendant would later inform the panick-stricken publicity officer. "Ozai, Iroh, Sozin and Zuko."

"There's another one, right?" Sokka inquires. He is grasping through straws. For him to keep this most rewarding job, he alone has to keep this pathetic park running somehow.

"That one is special to her for some reason. The blue, girly one." The attendant nods and Sokka, with increasing interest observe him wince. "Azula."

"It's not control. It's a relationship." Ty Lee is nothing like Sokka expected. The bumbling bundle of energy does not make up to the image of a burly commander who successfully reined the little bastards they pay a lot to feed but could not even use in an exhibit. Safety Board still is not convinced that the viewing glass is fireproof. "I mean, I am still trying to get through the others. Zuko let me touch him yesterday. But Azula and I? We're totally besties! She is such a sweetheart, you know."

The uncanny way that Ty Lee refers to the dragons as if they're her freaking neighbors miffs Sokka for a moment and he cannot help but glance down at the blue dragon in question that is looking at them so attentively, he can swear that it is listening.

"Hey 'Zula!" Ty Lee chirps, waving her hands. Sokka would testify later that the rather terrifying creature rolled its eyes.

He turns back to the grinning keeper. "As I was saying, we need to get results soon. We need to give people a show, something to look at. The strategy of giving them more teeth got old faster than expected. We want to give them something unbelievable, something that breathes fire." He points at the blue—Azula—and oh agni, is that a scowl? Creepy. "Something like that."

"Well sure, perhaps I can ask them not to be so harsh when people come." Ty Lee shrugs. "The glass is not fireproof by the way."

"What?"

"Azula's fire is hotter than the others. I always try to tell her to play nice but you know, she gets jealous sometimes. It only happened once though."

"Jealous?" The incredulity almost made Sokka widen his eyes. He settles for a scoff.

"Well, if someone else is talking to me." Wickedly, Ty Lee grins. "Like we are doing now."

…

 **.**

 **As you read this, I am already working on some of your requests (particularly in the source materials that I am most familiar with). Keep the requests coming if you have some as I enjoy the mental challenge. And thanks for those who dropped by. I hope you like it.**

 **The Hunger Games AU has drawn inspiration from electric gurll's upcoming fic and the short sneak peek that was published in her own drabble series. I am so excited about it that it makes my usually dormant muses fangirl all over.**


	3. Set Three

**011 Naruto**

Azula's path of revenge is something that nobody agreed on, not even Ty Lee. But she loves the firebender like she never loved anyone before. Azula saw her worth before the whole world did, distinguished her from her sisters before she was acknowledged. So perhaps, she feels some sort of gratitude, wallows over a debt unpaid. But she does not want to see Azula perish, like all her fellow ninjas had insisted that she deserves to. Because she is her friend. Ty Lee's friend. And because…

"I love you."

"Prove it." Azula points a finger—previously charged with lightning just before she announced her presence- to a prone figure, who Ty Lee recognizes instantly. "Kill her. And you can join me. Like you said you want to that night."

That night. That night when Azula deserted the village supposedly to follow a path her father said she should—the path of darkness, the path to recreate the world according to her and her father's dream. That night when she left Ty Lee and everything their little ninja team has come to for the sake of fulfilling a promise to a disgraced dead man who was bent to destroying the world.

"I'm sorry Mai." she whispers. Sprawled on the floor, painfully wincing at what must have been a nonlethal lightning attack dealt earlier, Mai only has the strength to glare back.

"Is this it, Ty Lee?" her other teammate spits blood when she manages to mutter scathingly. Azuia watches in rapt attention, golden eyes flashing with so much anger, so much hate. Her aura is a swirl of black, spinning erratically. Ty Lee has never seen anything like it before. "You would just throw everything. Everything? Just to join that lunatic? Ty Lee! You are better than that!"

"No." And in a flash of movements, she turns towards Azula who was too startled, too worn out from the previous battle with the general to react like she would have. And perhaps, Azula did trust her, trusted her enough despite everything to put her guard down. It breaks her heart when Azula falls limp on the ground, the kunai dripped with poison lodged on her chest.

"I'm sorry that I broke my promise." And she cannot stop the tears from falling.

"I was supposed to bring us three back together. I promised that I would save her."

Azula's death was only a plan.

That plan that she has no heart to fulfill.

In reality, Ty Lee does not kill Azula. She could not. In reality, her blade freezes halfway, suspended and lacking the resolve she thought she has gained when she saw the atrocities her former comrade had done. And Azula's hand once again glows and shrieks with the power of a thousand birds, the force of her unbeatable, inescapable lightning.

It was the job of a friend to guide those who were led astray.

But Azula is just so lost that in the tangle of her unrequited love and the consuming murk of vengeance that Ty Lee ends up being as lost as her.

But Azula does not kill her too.

"Why?" She is shocked. She is overwhelmed. Because maybe, just maybe…

There is still hope for her after all.

Azula's laughter is self deprecating as she only immobilizes Ty Lee. "Because you called me…

"The most perfect girl in the world."

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 **012 Jennifer's Body**

"I saw you die." She tells Azula, whose funeral she just attended an hour ago. They did not find a body, did not find any evidence of the Princess' demise. What they took as the truth would be Ty Lee's testament of how she saw Azula be taken by the evil spirits, how her bestfriend was not able to do anything about it. They lowered an empty coffin in the grave, having nothing to cremate. When Zuko shed tears, the world did not understand why he would mourn for someone so evil, so corrupted. Ty Lee herself does not understand why she did. "You're dead Azula. You are supposed to be dead."

"Perhaps you are right." Is the half-naked girl's careless response. She waves her hand. "But I am still here, aren't i?"

Maybe Azula is a zombie. An undead. But if so, that must mean Ty Lee have made out intensely with a corpse, albeit one that feels so warm, so amazing, so alive. She tries not to look back again at Azula's even redder lips, at the more defined contours of her face, tries not to think about how beautiful she has become from the last time she has seen her, her slightly insane…

"You are my bestfriend Ty Lee." Azula says, tracing warm fingers on Ty Lee's jawline. The acrobat is unsure why she even allows her. Why she is not running away now, fleeing for her life. "Perhaps it is time for us to play house again. You will keep this a secret, won't you?"

"You have changed Azula."

"So you have noticed?"

"I don't know." She feels her hands shake, her stomach hurl. "I don't know anything anymore."

"You're a good friend, Ty Lee. You always have been." Azula just says, inching closer and those beautiful pair of lips hovering over trembling ones once again. "I could never bring myself to hurt you. Even when I'm not full."

"What do you mean if you are not full?" Ty Lee feels unprecedented terror suddenly take its reign.

"You'll see." And their lips touch.

When much later as Ty Lee watches Azula take a man's heart and devour it, she thinks that the moment she just became a monster is also the second that she became the most human. You can love a monster. It can even love you back.

But love cannot satisfy Azula's hunger for flesh, her thirst for blood.

Literally.

…..

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 **013 Alice in Wonderland (2010)**

 _as prompted by splendorousfire_

When she first fell in the rabbit hole, the Princess of Fire is just a young girl, with pretty, pretty golden eyes that are more brilliant than Mai's and whose idea of fun is just a pig-chicken with a turtle-goose. When she comes back several years later as the so-called Girl of the Prophecy, she finds that the Wonderland is at war and there is no Princess of Fire anymore. In her place is a beautiful golden-eyed young woman calling herself the Blue Queen.

"You have grown quite well, Ty Lee." She remarks after the servants dressed her out of the rags she came in the palace with. She sits with her on the burning throne, watching uneasily as the frog that held her seat wobbles and trips. She decides that she would sit on the floor instead. "It's been a long time. How many years has it been?"

"Ten." She replies, trying to banish the details of the prophecy that the scroll showed to her. The Blue Queen's defeat. The red king's rise. She is sure that the Blue Queen is trying to manipulate her into overcoming fate, to changing her preconceived destiny. Ty Lee knows she should escape. Sokka told her so. Katara begged her to. but Azula—for that is the fierce woman's name—has been kind so far, so accommodating that it makes Ty Lee's heart pound even when her chambers are locked from the outside and that she can never go anywhere without an escort.

But fate indeed cannot be challenged.

The Blue Queen is no more, stabbed in the back by the girl she has started to care about. The war was won. The red king sits on the throne. Ty Lee returns to the human world and tries to forget the blue flames, the anguished cry of someone betrayed.

The prophecy had been right.

She saved the world by leaving her heart behind.

…

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 **014 Lion King**

 _As prompted by Nikkel_

When the reigning King of the Jungle Zuko mysteriously perishes in the hands of hyenas, formerly overthrown King Ozai takes the throne once more. And the Kingdom is once again ruled with an iron fist. Fangs were once again bared and the virtue of love that had slowly propagated in Zuko's short rule immediately waned in the rise of the tyranny they once thought they have escaped.

"But Princess Azula is next in line!" Anyone who would voice this fact would be instantly executed, bearing fierce claw wounds to bleed to death and their carcass be fed to the hyenas. Azula herself had been once the splitting image of her father, notorious for her cruelty, fiercer than any lioness to have ever been bred. But King Zuko never gave up on her, had always believed on the sister who once belittled him, stood over him and loved the view.

Everyone thought that Azula was well into her way of redemption.

"Princess Azula has been the catalyst of your former King's demise." is what Ozai has told his dissatisfied subjects. Everyone has long since learned to keep their mouth shut in the presence of the usurper even as he forcibly marries their former Queen. Including Ty Lee.

But Ty Lee would never give up.

Because she has seen for herself how Azula has changed, how Zuko's beliefs and optimism are not in vain. Zuko would have wanted her on the throne. Azula would never have killed Zuko. Ozai must be dealt with. And only Azula, a warrior even more powerful than the deceased king himself would be able to do so.

When she finds Azula, her heart momentarily falters at the sight. For this hunched, weak-kneed lioness who let the gun-wielding humans trample over her is not the one that she has grown to admire as she gradually lets the light her brother basked in take her too. "I killed Zuko." She says. And Ty Lee screams at her because she does not believe that, nobody does.

"There are only two things that you can do when bad things happen. You can run away like you are cowardly doing now." She hits the unresponsive lioness and Ty Lee feels disgusted on how she just takes it all in when she, and only she is the rightful heir to the throne. "Or you can face it with honor, like any Princess should."

"Perhaps I am a coward now."

"Azula! You have to remember what Zuko always said." She pauses, watching for any reaction. Azula looks so lost, so distraught and she hits her again, wanting to remove that pathetic look on her face bares her claws to the sullen face.

It does not suit her anyway.

"Never forget who you are."

…

 **015 Callgirl AU**

 _As prompted by 0ri0n_

Ty Lee would meet Azula when a man, introducing himself as Zuko calls the Kyoushi Services for two girls for a night. The pay sounds so good, so substantial that even the cringeworthy idea of a threesome with an eccentric, hairy millionaire is worth the paycheck they will remit later. But the sight that greets Suki and her once they were done verifying themselves in the stingy penthouse security is instead of an exotically attractive young man. Scarred the half of his face may be, the mark has only added to the mystery of his charms.

"Thanks for coming." He awkwardly says. He looks like a first-timer, the occasional virgin they get to at least have fun with. Not the sex itself but the amusing quality of the job. In this kind of situations, the roles would be reversed. They are the ones who get to mess with their customers.

Why he called for two is made clear when Zuko hollers to somewhere inside the unit. "Azula!" he calls. He does not sound excited. Just uncomfortable."They are here!"

And the two girls are treated to the second surprise of the night. Azula turns out to be a girl, a classically beautiful specimen with hips that swayed and lips that bite seductively. She is the femme fatale that you see in movies, the girl you won't like to offend. And Ty Lee stands transfixed, enchanted because she has never seen such unearthly creature before, so perfect, so magnificent.

"So this is your surprise, Zuzu. How quaint." She looks them up and down. Ty Lee tries to stop her face from reddening when the scrutinizing gaze lingers on her. "I'll take this one." She pronounces with confidence that is opposite of bumbling Zuzu and Ty Lee holds her breath.

"Oh. Okay." Zuko scratches the back of his head, his face now redder than his scar. He offers a smile to Suki and Ty Lee sees her companion beam. She can tell that she would enjoy this job. Such a handsome man, Ty Lee can imagine her thinking as though she got the better end of the stick. "Uh, what's your name?"

"Suki."

"Zuzu, you are not supposed to ask." Azula. She gestures for Ty Lee to follow her, leading to a bedroom the size of their apartment shared by four others. Azula implores for her to lie down. Ty lee timidly obeys. "You are a first timer. Never had a lesbian client before?" She chuckles when Ty Lee slowly nods. Her first touches burn. The first kiss electrifying. Ty Lee has never felt anything like this before. When she, an expert has her breath taken away when she experienced another side of carnal pleasure.

Azula is the type that finds orgasm in her partner's moans, thrives in the feel of being the dominant one. And soon their first meeting becomes part of a series of trysts where Ty Lee falls harder and harder and she is left unsure if Azula felt the same spark that she did when two days later, she had called Kyoushi Services specifically for Ty Lee. "Someone wants you for a whole week." And it is the best week of Ty Lee's thankless job.

It is the end of the week when she finally gains the courage to ask. "Will I see you again?" It holds all the implications, the questions that arose in every touch, every tingle, every fire that their passion for each other ignited. _What does this mean to you? What happens now? I love you. I love you. Do you love me?_ And like she always did, Azula understands.

"I can't." she just whispers and Ty Lee tries to fight the tears, tries to banish the pain. Because this holds the answer, the worst rejection she felt since being sold by her own parents to sexual slavery. "I cannot love someone who I have to share with everybody else."

And suddenly the bed that they have shared for the whole week feels so cold, feels so empty.

Ty Lee has no regrets when she leaves before Azula wakes, before she could write the cheque to pay her.

…

 **.**

 **This is a sadder set and hints at some post-The Search headcanons, if you squint. (Someone is in the mood for some tragedy). But I like the lulz too. So if anyone wants more of them, just tell me and I will give it a shot. I welcome the challenge.**


	4. nanny AU

**This was originally supposed to be a rough draft for an alternate Tyzula week entry. But I decided to let it stay as a drabblefic and post it here instead. Like everything else here in this collection, this is a silly idea that never quite came into fruition. I have a Yakuza AU posted separately however. If you enjoy those kind of things and my odd way of telling a story...**

 **Anyway, enjoy and I am still accepting challenges/requests.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Nanny!AU**

.

 **001 Handwriting**

Azula's handwriting is neat, terse and is telling her that she would be home earlier than usual tonight. A decent (and by that she means, five-star restaurant calibre) dinner should better be ready for her. Stamped on the calendar is an efficient scrawl of future-dated activities, like her daughter, Shizuka's school play and that business meeting in Ba Sing Se. Written in Ty Lee's paycheck is such a distinguishable signature that is only attributed to the most successful of individuals.

Ty Lee pretends they are all love letters.

Ty Lee pretends that every day is a normal day between a real couple.

Ty Lee pretends that she is more than just a servant.

.

 **002 Kittens**

"Ty Lee said I could keep them."

Azula's glare. Ty Lee's wince. Sometimes, she hates how the young girl's acting skills have been honed by the troupe. That look of innocence is utterly convincing.

It does not help that the little, cutie critters are now rubbing insistently between their legs, between her boss' sexy, creamy ones that Ty Lee wants to touch, caress...

"You know..." Azula is frowning. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Will Azula fire her? Will Azula kick her out without anywhere to sleep on? Will she never see her crush again? "... that my daughter is allergic to cats fur, hm?"

Like she is allergic to everything. Ty Lee almost rolled her eyes (and sighed in relief. It is not too often that Azula is this lenient). It is unbelievably hilarious how the tyrant they have for a boss is surprisingly overprotective of her only child. Azula is the epitome of the hero single mom. Shizuka adores her, to the point of being as mean as her mother could be. Ty Lee...

... thinks that Azula is really pretty.

Like super perfect. Smart, beautiful and just wonderful. She pays well too, even if she complains about it the whole time whenever something as little as a speck of dust displeases her. Having a sexy voice when barking orders while making an equally alluring face is just an added perk. Having a spoilt mommy's little girl who is now in her thirteenth nanny is just something that the overly smitten Ty Lee can overlook.

"That's true! She totally knows! She's totally plotting to kill me, Mom!" That prickly grin.

Now, if only her little charge would stop being so difficult (and being such a sourpuss to her perfect love story), Ty Lee would totally not mind having her as a daughter.

 **.**

 **003 Daycare**

Shizuka kind of hates her from the moment that Azula complimented Ty Lee's dress. Henceforth after that fateful day, it is an unspoken competition between the two of them. Shizuka's wants her mother attention to stay only on her (that greedy child!) while Ty Lee's one goal is for Azula to look at her with bedroom eyes (those sexy, gold orbs... ugh).

When Azula (finally!) started to look at her like that all the time, it is an all out war.

Of course, Ty Lee may or may not have successfully slept with the most influential woman in the world already.

But five-year olds do not need to know the awesome, kinky details to derive meaning from the stolen kisses in the kitchen. Or the appreciative stares when Ty Lee's skirt hikes up. Or the higher payslips which Ty Lee kind of appreciates except that it makes her feel kind of cheap too. What is the word? It starts with the letter W.

She would rather be called Azula's "wife".

"She's not my mom!" Shizuka shrieks at yet another daycare mother who asked. Ty Lee just grins and discretely leads the petulant child away.

She would come around.

.

 **004 Rehab**

Shizuka with a common cold is a delirious, cranky feverish mess of the most demanding charge any nanny would have nightmares about. It is not something one could get used to. But Ty Lee tolerates it, mostly because this little she-devil-in-the-making (she is very cute, if only she stops scowling too much) is the daughter of the hottest CEO in the world. And oh, the sex is so addictive. The thoughts of a naked Azula make Ty Lee stay.

And she stays for days like these too. When Azula is too busy, too preoccupied with things such as business and company issues to be with her daughter. Belittled, a daily prank victim, and almost falling to attempted murder (daily too), Ty Lee loves the child she has survived chasing around for seven months despite everything (and everything is a lot, mind you). And Ty Lee does not want her to be alone when she needs someone the most, even if Shizuka is insistent, almost obsessed in getting her out of her and her mother's lives.

"I will look after you." She murmurs consolingly, fingers running through dark hair. Shizuka shivers, mutters about mothers and evil nannies. About turtleducks dancing and some other ludicrous atrocity. "Now eat up so that you will be healthy by tomorrow. You still need to kill me, remember?"

"You'll stay?"

Ty Lee rubs the girl's sweaty back. "Of course. Until you get well. And maybe after that. I don't know. If I am still alive."

"I won't put crayons in the stairsteps, I promise."

"That's a relief then." Ty Lee gives her a bright, approving smile.

It is a start.

It is a practice of being a good parent.

.

 **005 Cherries**

"Mother likes cherries." Shizuka says, running a finger on the glass pane. Exquisitely-iced cakes are lined in an impeccable array, looking ready for an impromptu magazine photoshoot. Pointing at the dark-frosted round confection, her charge pops a gum. Ty Lee has not encouraged her of the unseemly peasant habit yet. Which is kind of normal for real mothers. Azula is just extraordinary. "Pick the black forest cake."

"But you are allergic—"

"Mother is such a drama queen." Exasperated sigh. She crosses her arm, her stare challenging. Or as challenging as a miniature Azula can muster. After seeing her at her worst, Shizuka ceased to be the scary, troublemaker in Ty Lee's eyes. In her place is a cute doll. A doll that needs to learn how to smile.

Ty Lee has been giving her lessons.

"She's just being overprotective. Like Uncle Zuzu. Or grandmother. Ugh, everyone." Headshake.

Smirk.

Ty Lee beams.

She always knew she would like this child.

Her future daughter.

"What do you think is the best gift for her?"

"You should know." Shizuka squints. "Aren't you her girlfriend or something?"

Acceptance.

...

 **006 Roses**

"What? I refuse to be a stupid flowergirl!"

"Oh Shizu..." Ty Lee has always been waiting for this day. To use her most evil smile without seeming inappropriate. "But you don't have much of a choice."

"You are not my mum!" she protests. Halfheartedly.

Ty Lee freely chuckles. "Oh. But I will be."

Shizuka rolls her eyes.

But she does not object to it anymore.

.

 **007 Winning**

"She's my mother." Shizuka, with some preamble, hesitantly tells her playmates. She gives off a careless shrug, waves her hand. Ty Lee thinks she looks kind of cool. Ty Lee thinks she is becoming more like Azula each day and she loves it! "As much as she impersonates a wheezing rabbit most of the time, yeah she's my mother."

Ty Lee could not hold back her ecstatic squeal.

She won.

 **...**

 **I hope you don't mind OCs but a nanny! Tyzula sounded so hilarious, it almost became as long as Steam and Tears. Almost.**


	5. The Hot Chick AU

**Prompts came from the #TyzulaTuesday thread. Very crackish. Genderchange AU. The movie itself was one from Elementary School so the atmosphere is definitely absent. You have been forewarned.**

 **.**

 **The Hot Chick! AU**

 **.**

 **001 Crimson**

The man that breaks in Ty Lee's window looks kind of hot—tanned skin, blue eyes and muscled but lean enough figure, like the cute, fun guys who end up saving sheltered demure girls. Like Jasmine's Alladin. Or even that guy from Tangled. Ty Lee thinks that if he is grinning a white, movie star, sparkling smile, he would have passed as the male version of her. _And therefore is perfect for the spoiled, princessy, hot chick she has for a bestfriend/crush._ But this rather attractive guy with his funny hairdo wears a too serious expression that looks out of place in his colorful clothes. Ty Lee bunches her knees, pulls the blanket closer to her half naked form as the weird guy carefully shuts the blinds.

"Are you here to rape me?" She intended to sound timid but she ends up with _flirty._ Ugh. Oh Gosh. To a potential rapist! She wonders how livid Azula would be when she recites her eulogy. She probably would be too engrossed with her feminist beast mode to properly grieve the loss of her wonderful bestfriend…

Oops. Can't put slash-crush there.

"Don't be ridiculous." huffs the cutie-would-be-rapist-with-the-ponytail. He has a husky, high-pitched, girly type of voice that for some reason, he winces to because he clears his throat. "I know you wouldn't believe this, Ty Lee but—"

"Hey, hey hold up cute guy. How do you know my name?"

"Cute guy?" He looks horrified. He says it like a girl who found out her celebrity crush is dating someone unworthy.

"Well, yeah." It is probably unwise for her to lean closer, for her to show that crimson lingerie she bought with Azula the other day (hoping she would see how big the size she needed) but Ty Lee cocks her brow in askance, more than curious. "I'd like to call you a secret admirer instead of a stalker. But love letters in the locker are my limit. I can call the police now, you know."

She meant to sound threatening.

But once more, it comes out wrong.

"Wait, wait, Ty Lee…" The guy is visibly panicking though, eyes wide and his arms frantically waving. Ty Lee does not know what to think of how the guy is so familiar with her, like they are best of friends or something. He dashes closer and Ty Lee does not even have the time to ward him off as ponytail man grabs both of her bare shoulders. "I know this sounds ridiculous but listen to me. This all started when I had to buy tampons because as you know, my mother is a hoe who does not care about her daughter's needs as long as her dear son has enough gel for his empty head and I was forced to plug myself with cloths and risk staining the leather seats of my car—you know how much I love those. So yes, I drove half a mile for a stupid thing that should have been in my bathroom in the first place and faced the humiliation of asking that dumb teenage boy if I could use their restroom while he grinned and showed his poor dental hygiene. As if that is not bad enough…"

Ty Lee's jaw dropped.

The guy continues to cartoonishly shriek. "Police sirens are everywhere and lucky me just had to encounter the clumsiest getaway vehicle in history. So much for being born with that. Anyway, the next thing I knew—"

"Wait, wait, Too fast! Are we talking about a car accident?"

"Of course, you dimwit!" Wow. Ty Lee has a feeling that should ring a bell. She is not sure which one though.

"So anyway, this stupid, filthy water peasant criminal hit my baby convertible with his cheap wheels and the next thing I know, I woke up looking like this."

Ty Lee frowns. Oh gosh. Forget potential rapist. We have an asylum escapee here! She proceeds warily. "Wait sir, are you sure you hadn't hit your head during the collision?"

"Of course I am!" Crazy ponytail scowls. Darkly. That reminds Ty Lee of something too. Thinking hurts. "A minute there: what did you call me? Oh Agni, don't tell me you don't get it?"

"Uh… No?"

Strong, lithe arms shake her desperately. "Ty Lee, it's me!"

"It's who?!"

The blanket falls…

… revealing Ty Lee's crimson C-cup front. _That oh my Agni, only Azula is supposed to see once Ty Lee logs in to Skype tonight and pretends she cannot answer that Math problem and is too stressed to dress up in a hot night. And now this crazed guy comes and ruins the beginnings of her most amazing romance with a formal mental institution patient herself. How would she fix this? Oh my, oh my. OH MY._

Blue eyes are as wide as saucers. Drool. "Oh…"

Tent on pants.

"Pervert!"

Out cold.

Nosebleed.

Azula would be so, so proud!

…

 **002 Shiny**

Except that Azula did not answer her calls in the first hour and Ursa called her asking if her daughter decided on an impromptu sleepover with her the second and even Mai was wondering what happened to the scheduled group chat by the third. Zuko phones halfway around the fourth hour and tells her with an odd voice that worries Ty Lee to no end to watch the evening news.

Just in time for her to see the most crucial images for the specific news clip. Ty Lee ignores the pretty newscaster because Akazuki, that shiny, red and black Lamborghini that Azula calls her baby is there, with its windshield broken. And that faded yellow VW, its bumper crumpled like a piece of paper. "… none of the drivers are found in the scene." The ominous words ring through Ty Lee's head. "But according to the statements released by the police, the one in the VW is a criminal they have been chasing and they have a solid reason to speculate that the owner of the luxury car…"

Ty Lee screams. "Oh no. Oh no."

"… is kidnapped by the delinquent. Sokka of the Water Triads—"

Mugshot. Grinning, dark-skinned man with ponytail. Shiny. Those white teeth gleam like a freaking toothpaste commercial. Wait—

"Ow." _Sokka_ rubs his eyes, sits upright with a pained groan, looks at the TV blearily, then is seemingly struck by a realization as he pans blue eyes to the furious Ty Lee. "Wait, wait. Alright, easy there, I can explain."

"Where's Azula!" she shouts, swinging her fist in rage but the man is ready this time. He catches her arm, keeps it from dangerously flailing.

"It's me. Ty Lee! It's me!" Fearsome criminal! Bah! Ty Lee struggles. He sounds like a girl! "It's me! Azula!"

Ty Lee pauses.

Mouth agape.

"What?"

"I don't know what happened. Believe me." Hands rake on hair. Lip biting. Oh Agni, that is so Azula! "I just woke up looking like this after the accident."

"Looking like what?"

"Looking like a guy. An ugly guy, you idiot!" Now, that is her Azula. But Ty Lee refuses to believe it because hey, isn't 21st century too modernized for spirits shenanigans? Ty Lee kind of is an expert to the supernatural and she knows full well that they haven't been meddling around human affairs for quite a while. Even to those who deserve punishment the most. Azula could be kind of really mean and ungrateful but she does not really have it in her to be cursed to grow a dick over night. "I woke up in the stinking car of that idiotic bank robber and when I looked for my beautiful baby, my body is not even there."

Body. Switch.

Ty Lee is a big fan of Korean dramas.

"Hey, does that mean…?" This… this tops the list of the most awkward things Ty Lee had done, including that one time Ty Lee tried to coax a wasted, apparently still heterosexual Azula to sex. "Are you really Azula?"

"The other guy is probably enjoying my body, yes." That part does not sound right to Ty Lee. No one is allowed to do that when she herself cannot. "You still don't believe it? Seriously, Ty Lee?"

Incredulity apparently does not look so good on… _Sokka_.

"Well, don't blame me. You must admit. This is just ridiculous." Ty Lee says hurriedly in defense. "Let's play twenty questions first."

Sigh. Long suffering. "Fine. But seriously, we are wasting our time. Do you realize that—"

"What's Azula's favorite color?"

"Blue."

"The name of her car."

"Akazuki."

"The person she hates the most?"

"Mother. You see-"

"Sexual orientation?"

"Straight. Definitely straight."

"Tch." Like a bent arrow? Ty Lee decides not to pursue. "Crush?"

"Ty Lee!"

"Oh my. Really?" Ty Lee's glee is incomparable. Dream come true!

"I was trying to call your attention, you idiot." Annoyed Sokka does not look like annoyed Azula. But they sound the same enough. Ty Lee deflates.

"Oh."

"But as I was saying, you probably realized by now that you are housing someone who looks like the one who kidnapped a former governor's daughter."

"Oh."

"And said criminal is in fact in the body of a healthy, beautiful, young woman and who knows what his filthy hands doing with it right now!"

"Do you think he could be gay?" She suggests. Ty Lee hopes so. At least, her body would be put to good use.

On second thought, no.

"Ty Lee. Be serious! This is a crisis!" He.. she… ugh… Azula gives her a look that is kind of cool because even though this man does not look like her pretty princess one bit, such a smoldering glare from an admittedly handsome man is quite flattering. "For now, you are the only one I can trust. I need your help."

"Anything for you Azula."

"Good girl." Is it just her or is he really starting to sound like… Azula that is now a man, reaches for her head, pats it. "Now, first thing that we have to do is to gather some resources and… hey, what in the world is that look?"

Ty Lee's smile is mischievous.

And it shines.

"So I am guessing you have a penis?" She licks her lips.

…

 **003 Starlet**

it has been a week of fruitless searching, clever police evasions and trying to act like she would had Azula been really missing and not living as a pretty hot guy (Azula the girl is still hotter though) in her bedroom, trying to figure out why her (his) extremities hurt so much whenever Ty Lee gets dressed in front of her (him). This, Azula said, never happened before. "Of course you didn't have a dick before too." Ty Lee laughingly tells her (him). Ugh. "But you were totally looking at me all those times. Hm?"

"The hell?" Azula's (Sokka's?) reaction is too comical for Ty Lee not to giggle at. "Are you flirting with me, Ty Lee?"

"Did testosterone make you aware of the most obvious things, Azula?" Ty Lee could not help but crack up, much to Azula's visible displeasure. She did not even know she could pronounce that word! "Of course! I have forever and always been flirting with you!"

Turning into a male did not do any favors to Azula's literally flammable mood, except that time she sadistically chortled when Ursa appeared on National TV to beg for her daughter's safe release. (Why she was not touched with that display, Ty Lee is not sure.) But even though Ty Lee is not very well-versed to the masculine physiology and even less background in the situation of switched identities, she had had enough casual sex to know when a man was excited. Three days and Azula seemed almost physically pained by her presence. Repressed crush, she thought. A breakthrough in the unrequited love that did not seem like one after all. Azula hid it better when she was a girl.

So she was a bit sad when all too soon, her little game with Azula ended with the discovery of where her body is located. Most times, Azula is just too clever for Ty Lee's benefit.

"That idiot made me a star of a pole dancing show!" There was no describing the red in Azula's (Sokka's) face. She (He) clenched her fists, gritted teeth, stomped into action.

And there is no describing the rage that Ty Lee feels consume her when she sees the exquisite, perfect body of her one and only true love leered by perverted old men, dressed in scant two piece and touched in places that Ty Lee only ever dreamt of.

"We'll get your body back." She says amidst the loud, erotic music. "I don't care how we do it. By the end of this night, I'll have that man in your body tied up in my backseat. Or come to think of it, don't let him end that disgusting performance. Let's move, Azula!"

Despite herself, Azula is quite so obviously shocked. "What's with the sudden determination?"

"No one is allowed to look at you like that." Ty Lee proclaims, eyes still fixed onstage. Then before both of them realize it, Ty Lee becomes the leader for tonight's mission. "No one else is supposed to see you like that."

As quick as a snake, Ty Lee slips away through the crowd.

Azula is left confused.

And a bit touched.

But she is more turned on.

…

.

.

Hope you enjoyed it.


	6. Cheating AU

Snapshots. This was supposed to be part of another set but got longer than expected. Oh well. Takes place in a Modern AU too. Oh joy.

 **Cheating AU**

…

.

You know what started an affair. The smallest touch, that one glance. It made you think of the many possibilities, made you not think of the equally many risks. In Ty Lee's case, It has started right from the beginning, in a sweet romance she cherished more than anything. She was just unaware, oh how oblivious, that it never ended. She does not know when it ever would.

Room 306. Haido Hotel.

Many times, she has received something like this. Many times, it forced her to think twice, stop, mull over the good man that waits for her at home. But the temptation of this bliss beckons far too strongly to be pocketed into the realms of past sin. She buries the grim prospect of the future in the name of the present she refuses to become her past. Her fingers move over the screen, types up the letters that performs a familiar dance.

I'll be there.

She goes through the revolving doors two steps at a time, in sync with a heart that does not slow down. She is sure that the receptionist smiled, as many did in the many hotels they have gone. "What can I-?" But Ty Lee's eyes are fixed forward as she makes her way to the elevator. Room 306. Third floor. The door should be unlocked. I'll be waiting. It is Ty Lee's first time in this hotel but she has done this many times before.

It is hypocritical to say that she paused just outside hotel room door and for a single moment, stared at the number. Guilt is a common misconception. At least, not when she got this far, with the object of her treacherous thoughts a wall beyond. She goes straight inside, opens the door soundlessly and beholds the sight of an already undressed Azula.

Ty Lee would hate herself later. She would crumple the once pristine sheets they have stained, would avoid the steady golden gaze her one sin gives her. The shower would not wash it off. The perfume she brought for this occasions would never mask the scent of her betrayal. But for now, she lets Azula pin her against the wall as they share a deep, passionate, longing kiss. Because this secret life, she does not want to lose. This secret life is just as good as the marriage the whole world thinks is perfect.

…

.

He is watching the evening news when she arrives. Home. This is where the all-consuming feeling of guilt comes in. Her chest feels constricted and the pause and hesitation that should have frozen her on the spot before she could do it again, inflicts her in this very second. Zuko beams at the sight of her and offers Ty Lee a seat beside him. She declines because she is sure she still smells like his sister. She declines because she does not deserve such kindness.

It is not love, she knows and has long since accepted it. Theirs is marriage of convenience, of accident, of the slim chance their one night together would result to life. They are each other's rebound. They are each other's consolation. When Ty Lee miscarried the reason Zuko had decided to propose to her in the first place, he still did not back out. "We can still have more." He said. Two boys and one girl, he said. She will be a good mother, he said.

But how can she be one when she is not even a good wife?

It is not love, she knows. That one with Azula though, she knows it is. Love that is hopeless. Love that is painful. If love really means fooling around with your husband's sister who delights to get even with the man she hates so much, Ty Lee is not sure if she is willing to trade Zuko's kindness with Azula's empty promises of romance. Azula whispers lies in her ear and yet she, like the fool that she is, graciously listens to each one.

She does not stop.

And that is how Azula likes it.

You are mine.

It is the cold, dark truth.

"I'm going upstairs." She tells Zuko and he only nods and wishes her good night because that is the kind of man he just is.

…

.

This would not end well.

The gold eyes and dark hair is an overpowering reminder of someone else and Ty Lee, as Zuko thrusts inside her, tries her best not to cry out the wrong name. She tries not to remember the kisses, the touch, the fall of long, ebony hair caressing her naked breasts. She tries to focus on her husband, in his latest attempt for a child as he grunts and groans and follows each step the doctor told him he should. She prays that this would end like every sex after their marriage did. She prays this would not end up like the first time she made the mistake.

She wishes for Mai's presence.

She wishes for the one friend that now hates her.

She wishes for the one friend that always knows what to do.

She wishes she never married Zuko.

She wishes she never saw that look in Mai's face.

She wishes she never caught Azula's attention.

She wishes she never fell in love with the wrong sibling.

…

.

They have met in her wedding reception. Because Azula never expected that her brother would be able "to seduce someone like her." She made it sound as though Ty Lee is special, complimented her with a wine glass in hand and her red exquisitely-tailored dress hugging her curves. Ty Lee never saw a creature as beautiful. Ty Lee never had met anyone so perfect.

She shakes Azula's warm hands. "Mai is one thing. You certainly are another." She practically purred this. Perhaps, the overwhelming infatuation started there. Perhaps, Azula started it there. She wonders if this is all a plan, a construction. She wonders if Azula despises her brother enough to fuck his wife.

Two years later, they are in room 405. Somewhere in the city. Zuko is in some business trip. Ty Lee's toes are curled as Azula's head bobs in between her legs. Her hands pressed on her hips, her tongue doing marvels. Ty Lee is just every bit as captivated as she was with her manipulative lover. Does Zuko make you scream like this? Does Zuko make you feel good like this? Does Zuko drive you insane like this?

Does Zuko love you like this?

She gasps "no" each time, overcome by blinding pleasure because she likes seeing the proud, triumphant smirk that crosses Azula's face as she reaches her undoing. She would hate herself afterwards. She would feel guilty afterwards. But for now she is the woman Azula says she loves, not the sister-in-law she chooses never to associate with.

"This would not end well." She murmurs when she wakes from the much needed nap. Azula sits at the edge of the bed, a lit cigarette in between her fingers.

"You always say that." She dismisses this like she avoided everything else. She swats the smoke away, puts out the cigarette and Ty Lee could not help but think that perhaps she is just as disposable as this, as everything seems to her.

….

.

"I invited Azula to dinner."

It takes Ty Lee every sense of composure not to drop the knife.

"She has been working nonstop." Her husband sighs. Long suffering. "I suggested we wind up. Have a family dinner for once." Their relationship is not the best but Zuko is trying, she can tell. Zuko is trying to piece together his bond with the only remaining relative he still has. "Blood is thicker than water." He likes to say. To which Azula had once countered that she knew he does not and never did believe that. "Because the true quote is: the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

"What did she say?" Ty Lee finally manages as she resumes her chore. The scent of onions wafts in her sense. She blinks, rubs her watery eyes.

"She refused of course." Zuko shrugs because they both know this is not the first time. "But she invited me to her place next week."

"Am I…?" She trails off, her shoulders sagged, knowing the answer.

"No." Zuko shakes his head. "She specifically instructed me not to bring you."

…

.

Two lines.

This one she almost, really, drops.

But she feels arms wrap around her.

Zuko twirls her around after he peered from behind her. Ty Lee holds the test kit, frozen and stunned for an entirely different reason than her husband imagines.

…

.

One hour before midnight a week later, Zuko calls from Azula's. "You have to come here." His tone is urgent. "Just take the taxi."

"What?"

There is a brief silence in the line before Zuko comes in again after heaving a heavy sigh. She thinks she heard Azula groan in the background. She is not sure. "Bring a first-aid kit. She requested for you to come."

….

..

"I broke the glass when he told me you are pregnant." Azula does not even wince as Ty Lee wraps the plaster around her bloodied hand. Zuko is in the other room, sulky after his suggestion of dropping his sister by the clinic is harshly rejected. "How did that even happen?"

"It failed." Ty Lee replies quietly. She gently places Azula's injured hand on her lap, avoiding her eyes. "It failed."

"One could never trust birth control."

"We couldn't."

"So you are having a child? A daughter, hopefully. I have always wanted a niece. You always wanted a child too."

"I want to raise mine with you."

Azula chuckles but Ty Lee is not to be fooled with that act. Azula is not as unaffected with this development as she tries so hard to seem. The bandaged hand is evidence enough.

Azula leans closer, kisses her.

Ty Lee breathes out. "He's coming."

True enough, footsteps click, the heavy crescendo of the moment of truth. But Ty Lee is too numb to move and she lets Azula's good hand stay on her cheeks.

"This would not end well." She says. She clasps Azula's hand, runs her lips into each fingers. She wants it out now. She wants the truth. She wants Zuko to know. "This would not end well, Azula." She could give Zuko what he always wanted, the child he wished for. Then she could have Azula. Then she could finally stop hiding.

But Azula withdraws her arm.

"Who says it has to end?" she scoffs and leans back as though nothing happened.

….

.

.


	7. The Little Mermaid (Continuation)

**I initially considered using my Mother Tongue (first language) as the mermaidmen's lingo but decided I rather like the mysterious quality of whatever Ty Lee says to be experienced by myself as well.**

 **To anyone wondering, most of the installments in this collection are merely spur of the moment kind of thing. Nothing serious. So there might be no Part Three. But I believe I ended things enough for the imagination to work. I might continue it if I were inspired enough though.**

 **..**

 **...**

 **The Little Mermaid AU (Continuation)**

Azula's first memory of her is when the uncomfortable surface of the sand seeps into her drenched skin, each grain sticking into her wet hair. She sputters, thrashes and almost chokes herself in her panic. She remembers lightning, treacherous waves and such a deadly downpour. The ship wavered, collapsed in the fury of nature. The rest of the crew vanished from sight as Azula feebly held on her own consciousness.

She remembers water, dark, dark water closing in on her as the cramps settled on her limbs. She was drowning, struggling, dying. And suddenly there was a flash of pink and Princess Azula of the Fire Nation was gone.

But wakefulness does not give her the emptiness an afterlife should feel. Pain shoots up on her side, recalling idly on how a broken plank got her in her descent. Azula groans, grumbles, almost screams. But the sight of gray, curious, very wide eyes stops her on her tracks. The grinning, excited pretty face is too close and in a moment, Azula would feel the arms straddling her, the moist, scaly skin brushing hers and the musky scent of the sea seizing her senses. Her clothes are in tatters, the Fire Nation garb unrecognizable and she feels every bit of the strange woman pressed to her, hears her own heartbeat synchronize against her own.

There is deafening silence as they held each other's gazes. Then the girl with the elaborate braids prattles on something unintelligible, touches Azula's face, inspects her thoroughly and the Princess is snapped from the trance.

Pink fish tail is what the creature has for two feet, fins glittering in the sunlight and shiny from the water droplets glinting. A pair of sea shells covers her breasts, her midriff bare. Long braided hair is haphazardly thrown in one side, exposing her perfectly tanned neck. The fish-girl grins and in horror, Azula pushes her away.

Ungracefully, the creature rolls back, stunned. She stares at Azula with her perfect lips agape, crossing her perfect arms and glaring at her with her perfect, protuberant eyes. "Kinshati apurabi kimenoki." She spits back like a petulant child squinting at the more than disconcerted princess, looking at her in reproach as if she is an ungrateful… peasant child.

"Kurabi saidoru kanpeki." She continues with a sulk that Azula can only label as undignified, her lips still curled. Then she sighs, taking a deep breath as she directs her attention to Azula's hurting middle. Her forehead creased, raising her hands to point at the bleeding. Azula winces self-consciously. 'Kamoku hareshi kinosu." The girl says… earnestly.

"Did you save me?' Azula ventures, cutting the creature's stream of babble of some obscure language she has no idea about.

The girl smiles again, inches closer to touch the girl's trembling leg (which when Azula noticed, she futilely tried to suppress) and replies in clear enthusiasm. "Yah!" As if she understood what Azula said.

"So can you help me more then?" Azula risks further, warily observing the bright, pink dopey-looking fish girl. She figures that she must be in some sort of a deserted island or one that is not very populated. The shores are devoid of any fishing boats, the sand itself untamed with huge chunks of rock weathered from age-old corals. She wonders what happened to her crew, what the mainland have deduced from her failed voyage, if there are any survivors to live with the tale. She wonders how long she was gone, how long has this fish-girl stared at her in her sleep. How long since she ate? As though on cue, her stomach churned. "I need to get a new ship, a new crew. I need to go back to the mainland and ask Father to allow me another resource to apprehend my brother. I need to get my honor back. Can you help me with that, fish-girl?"

The successive demands is lost to the poor fish-woman however and she looks dumbly at the haughty princess, cocking her head in confusion. At another time when she is clearheaded and _not_ shipwrecked, Azula would have been subtle in her _commands._ But as it stands, she is none of the above.

"Ty Lee?" The girl's bewildered tone signified that it is a hesitant question. Or a confirmation. Azula's head hurts too much to make sense of the nuances. "Ah! Ty Lee! Ty Lee. Uh… uh,.. my… my name. Dats mai neym! Ty Lee."

What the-? "I'm sorry.. what?"

"My name." she pursues more coherently, waving her hands. "My name! Ty Lee!"

"I do not care about your name, you little…. I need—" But the girl's wide-eyed look make Azula recognize that this stupid fish has no mental capacity to acquire a new boat and enslave a crew even if they somehow manage to establish some kind of communication. She struggles to remember anything that prepared her for this. A mermaid. Right. Like her mother always said. Half-fish, half-human singing half-naked under the half-moon. She just did not expect they could be half-wits as well. "Never mind."

The girl waits expectantly as if Azula should be saying something more.

She frowns. 'What?"

"Name?" the mermaid named Ty Lee blurted, flashing Azula all of her teeth. Pearly white. Azula looks away. "Your… uh ney.. name!"

"Azula." She grits out, trying to prop herself up further. Ty Lee drags herself closer and the Princess can tell how much of an effort that took but before injured, starving Azula can slink away, the mermaid's surprisingly strong arms are helping her sit up fully. Her skin is cool against her feverish ones and Azula finds herself leaning on the fish girl as the mermaid runs fingers on her hair.

The Princess stomach's grumbles.

Ty Lee offers her seaweed.

….

.

.

After forcing herself to swallow that horrendous greenish… thing one more time, Fish-girl, er… Ty Lee introduces her to fellow humans by pointing at a group of people marching with lanterns and straw bundles. The mermaid calls their attention, screaming the most recognizable cry for attention. "Hey!" And true enough, a man's head turns towards the shores, murmurs of voices until they reach an impasse and the same man approaches them… her.

Ty Lee has vanished.

"Are you okay, miss?" he questions and Azula is relieved to hear that this man speaks her language at least. Fire Nation too. So she was drifted west. Good.

There is no trace of Ty Lee as the villagers help her up to her feet and she does not ask. Shipwreck victims are quite susceptible to delirium, she hears the town healer say who was more than glad to attend to her when Azula informed them that she was royalty. But she does not trust what she insisted to be a mere product of hunger's silly tricks. She has been under the wing of the Fire Nation's biggest authority in academics. "The human mind cannot conjure faces. When you dreamed of a person, it is a certainty that you have seen them at one point."

Ty Lee was too… pretty to be a product of imagination. And she would never forget such a face, if she met her somewhere already.

But she has more important things to do. Azula comes home and forgets about the pink-tailed woman who saved her life.

…

.

"What do you think Koh would want in exchange for a pair of legs?"

The chorus of answers responded by _all_ (all seventy-eight of them!) of her friends is something that Ty Lee does not want to hear.

"Your face!"

She winces. "But how would she even recognize me if it is so?" she moaned, gurgling bubbles on the water. Azula got a good look on her face and it was what Ty Lee held on in dreamy nights that she imagined being reunited with the human that had invaded her thoughts for so long. Several seasons had already passed and Ty Lee had visited the island she left Azula in as much as she could, in hopes that the beautiful creature would be there, waiting for her. Even though she did not seem like the type to say thank you in human-speak.

But so far, there had been no such luck.

 _Azula…_

And then the curveball of her otherwise monotonous search for "the human she fancied" (as one of the sharks had phrased it, wise bastards), came when she overheard the fishermen talk about a "Princess Azula" who had gone missing. The humans spoke of her like she was caught in their nets… dead too. Needless to say, Ty Lee is _worried._

And desperate. She had pondered about going to Koh before. But the horror stories whispered around by her other sisters had made take a step back and optimistically look forward to the idea that maybe, just maybe, Azula would not mind a friend of another species, being her savior and all. But _Azula_ is missing. And it seems like the only way she could be found is if someone really looks for her.

"Would he change my face to something horrible or just completely steal it away in exchange for you know… a favor?" She asks her sister, not the nicest but she was frank enough not to sugarcoat stuff- later that night. Ty Woo has her hair tied in the same braid as hers for approaching a month already. Ty Lee contemplates on changing hair styles to differentiate herself. Yup. She was kind of worried that Azula would see one of her sisters and mistake them for her.

"Let's just say you would give 'blank face' a whole new literal sense." Ty Woo cocks her head. "That is a joke. Laugh."

She does not.

She decides then that the Koh thing would be a last, last, last resort.

"I believe he had a mother though." The smartest of her sisters cuts in, as she swims to settle beside them. "Mother of Faces or something. They said she should be somewhere in the island of Hiraa. Who knows?" Her face creased. "Why do you want to know, Ty Lee-ah, hmmmm?" Gasp of realization. "Don't tell me, sister. Do you have some sort of request? You know, it's forbidden, right?"

Well, rising up to the surface and saving pretty shipwrecked humans and secretly kissing those soft, red lips while she was asleep is not exactly the definition of a law-abiding mermaid either.

Ty Lee does not tell them, like she never tells them things but she thanks her sisters with an uncharacteristic kiss on the cheek anyway. She does not look back.

She knows now where to go.

….


	8. In Laws AU- Lifelong

**In Laws AU**

When they were kids, it was with sparkling eyes and equally dazzling grin that she moons about love. Oh, how adorable. Oh, I wish this. Oh, I wish that. Mai would marry Zuko someday, hair donned and wearing shiny clothes while Azula and Ty Lee would be in their happiest and most beautiful at the sidelines. She did not recall making the same promise to the princess. In retrospect as the memory resurfaces like a drowned man gasping, it happened anyway.

"You wear flashy clothes, stand before a sage and be in your best behaviour." She remembers young Azula saying. "That is marriage."

"What is it for?"

The princess did seem to ponder this for over a moment, head cocked in thought but connivance the last thing she could conjure at this point.

"It will make us lifelong friends."

"Really?" She imagines she must have looked directly at the still wide, innocent gold eyes. "Will you marry me, then?"

"Of course." The small smile in her face, Ty Lee is sure is not wishful thinking anymore.

"It would be the happiest day of my life!"

Fast forward fifteen years and she failed to recall this as she sat in flashy clothes with Zuko before a Fire Sage, pledging eternity and loyalty, love and friendship, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. Though not happy, Azula was still at her most beautiful. Though she understood, Mai was nowhere.

It is not the happiest day of Ty Lee's life.

…..

….

Ty Lee does not think that she can ever classify anything in her love life as that, even as memories can deceive and turn tables. She roams through the palace halls with a heavy heart. She kisses her husband's mouth while imagining someone else's. She is crowned Firelady with everything in her fingertips, and yet the hole in her heart remains desolate and empty.

And then she returns.

Azula comes back to the palace like lightning, sudden and almost uninvited and beautiful. But Zuko welcomes her with open arms, a man who knows he can handle such crackling, uncontrollable power. Azula herself promises to behave, lips quirked. And for the first time in years since her self-imposed exile after the wedding, Azula graces her with a look that finally is no longer an accusing glare.

"Ty Lee."

"Azula."

She does not think it was happiest day of her life. But she certainly remembers it as the one when she finally ceased to be sad.

…..

.

She loved Zuko. She really did. Or perhaps this is wishful thinking once more. She does not know. She does not remember. Everything around this time is hazy. She was childless then. Izumi was to come only in a few years, a precocious child who looked a lot like her aunt. Perhaps, she thought about her too much when she is carrying. She does not know. Though she certainly remembers being very, very happy around this time.

"You are still awake."

"Zuko is yet to come home… I mean, I know he is in his office. And I know I can just tell him to go to bed if I think he is working too much but being a leader can be too demanding. And I kind of really like this book so…"

In the recent years, they had reached a cordiality that was unprecedented even in their years as "friends". Azula would take the seat opposite her, open her own book, smile and sigh through the flames of the lamp. And Ty Lee would not mind because she liked it. She liked it. She liked it.

She liked how different Azula was, even as her heart panged searching for the one she was used to. But at the same time, she was every bit as masterful as the princess she had grown up with. Azula flipped through pages with the same amount of concentration as she used to peruse war scrolls. And Ty Lee still found herself entranced by the elegance, the fluidity as she had been more than a decade ago.

"You are staring." She pointed this out every night, a smirk on her face as though she found it an amusement to be on an unspoken rendezvous with her brother's wife late at night as the both of them pretended that they weren't each other's first everything.

Even with their history, even with the pursed lips she still dreamed of claiming every night, Ty Lee could only count in one hand how many times she would be bold enough to say: "I always am."

 _Because you are beautiful._

 _Because it is you I wanted to marry._

 _Because I wish.. I wish..._

And it was only that one time that she mustered the courage to lean down and reach for her hands. Squeezing them. Holding them. And waiting for their faces to inevitably cross the distance, like it always did.

But it is Azula who whispered the damning words. "Don't." She did not shrug her hands off though even as she stiffly leaned back and exhaled. "We are not supposed to do that, hm? I told Zuzu I would behave."

It was Ty Lee who relinquished the hold. It was Ty Lee who avoided her gaze. But oddly enough, there was no bitterness out of the rejection, no sadness to be felt. For this was the first time Azula did not force her to do what she did not want.

And she did not want to make any more mistakes.

Nights like these she appreciated. Perhaps they were never meant to be like the star crossed lovers in the stories. Perhaps they were only meant to be friends. But she was content and happy because despite presently having a girlfriend herself, Azula still reserves a time of the day for her. And only for her.

"Lifelong friends." was Azula's explanation when Ty Lee asked. It was nowhere near eloquent than her poetic speech in Ba Sing Se but it meant the world to hear that.

And then she remembered.

There before the royal fire place, a bond stronger than marriage was sealed.

….

…

The happiest day of her life arrived in the spring as leaves turned green and the skies burned bright. The sun has blessed this one. Izumi emerged, toothless and innocent to the world that was once heavily scarred by war. The otherworldly spasms of childbirth was immediately forgotten as the pink bundle was handed to her. Azula's prescence no longer was the most comforting in the room full of anxious handmaidens and professional, stone-faced midwives. Her pregnancy was a dangerous one which was why it was fretful, panicked Zuko who was kicked out of the chambers and the more level headed sister-in-law was the one left holding the patient's hand.

"Don't think too highly of me. It was Azula who forced me to be here. You know how she is. But… congratulations, I guess. Izumi is a beautiful girl."

In the coming years, she would relish on Mai's half smile trying to domineer on her default irritation. It was the forgiveness she had wanted. It was the friendship she had wanted back.

She was happy. And she was laughing as merrily as she could even as Azula rolled her eyes and Mai scoffed.

….

.

It was not the saddest day of her life when Azula finally married her girlfriend.

She was enchanting, as Ty Lee had always imagined she would be. All dolled up like she dreamed of it after proposing as a naive child who did not know any better. But she did not ever think she would feel this happy, content even as the love of her life pledged for someone else before the timeless sage. Ty Lee was with Mai in the sidelines and she was not pretending. No, she was happy.

She should be.

Best behaviour, remember?

"This is my bestfriend." And Azula finally introduced her to the girlf- wife, that she refused to bring for Ty Lee's inspection all this time.

And here, she does not feel envy because…

Marriage always meant differently for Azula.

….

….

"You love her."

"She is just my friend."

"I can see it. You cannot fool me, damn it. You are fucking in love with your sister-in-law."

...

...

"I can't just let you go."

"I won't let you."

"Lifelong friends, right?"

A smile. "Always."

...

...

"Lifelong… huh…"

She gasps her last breaths and even then, Ty Lee thinks she is still the most beautiful girl in the entire world. The saddest day of her life came in guise of the cold arms of the epidemic touching the girl thought to be impervious. The woman who conquered Ba Sing Se buckled into relentless fever and paralyzing pain. Ty Lee was the one holding her hand this time, the comfort before death.

She thinks that she should have kissed her then.

But Azula, Azula who still managed to outlive her younger wife through the epidemic, was stubborn. And her lips blue and struggling to part, she told Ty Lee that they were, they were, they were… lifelong friends.

"You hear me? Zuko could not, no, no one can ever love you as much as I did. We were… lifelong friends. You are… the wife I never married. I did not need to. We..."

And as her body becomes colder to the touch and her breath softens to nothingness, Ty Lee concludes that maybe the deathbed confession matters more than the blessing of a sage.

...

...

 **(END)**

 **This was plotted to be a Modern AU but ended up vaguely fitting the canon universe so for a moment there, I wanted to separate this as a oneshot. But since I essentially typed this up in my phone, I decided not to. I am experimenting with a simpler writing style through this. Hopefully, it is a success.**

 **I promise to update Steam and Tears within a few weeks. I have just been a bit busy.**


	9. Set Four

**The Hunger Games AU**

She looks at her district partner's unmoving legs, at the wheels that bound him. He does not return the appraising stare and merely faces the silent crowd. She quickly looks away.

She is skilled, she knows that. The whole district too because what else can those half-smiles mean but the spark of a hope that there would be a winner this year? District 8 is a pushover. Has always been in the Games. But Ty Lee can jump high and disable a grown man in seconds.

She has the advantage.

Maybe they will have a victor this year. It has been a decade.

But she sees the Careers and she falters. Happy, sunny, very optimistic Ty Lee falters. She pretends that she is not though even if the impassive girl from One is confident. Scarred boy from Two looks strong. His district partner who also is his younger sister is the one with the striking gold eyes and is very, very, very pretty. Intimidating and absolutely perfect in every way, she would definitely get all of the sponsors.

Maybe it would be District Two again.

Her district partner's shoulders slump, his lips quirk downward. Ty Lee knows then that an alliance with him would result in loss. Loss of life, that is. She cannot afford that.

And to not lose, she needs an alliance.

Her approach obviously did surprise the Careers during Training. She was bold, direct, confident and very impressive. But she makes sure she sounds dumb enough to not be branded as a threat. They Career like their extras to be easily manipulated. Girl with the golden eyes is the leader. Azula. Fourteen. And Ty Lee can tell she came here to win.

"What can you do?"

"I can jump higher than most trees."

She thinks the knife girl from One is impressed which is something because Mai never missed. As well as the boy with the scar who is great with his dual swords. But Azula who is yet to show off her stuff only laughs and the words roll fluidly as she speaks. "Trees don't jump."

Nothing official but Ty Lee is with them during training, lunch and they take the elevator together. They taunt the others and talk about how ridiculous it is that Aang is so popular. Sometimes too, Azula would corner her some place and they would realize how much they enjoyed making out with each other.

This, she does not mind.

Ty Lee thinks it is just stress, hormones and just how fucking pretty Azula is. She has never seen anyone as beautiful in her district. Naturally, the Capitol is no match.

But of course, the relations, the kissing and touching went well into the Games. She scored nine. Azula did well with ten. Aang from the District Twelve had eleven. This year's Career pack is a big one. "The more human shields…" Azula whispered as she pressed Ty Lee against a tree one night. "... the better."

"Am I a shield?"

"You are an ally." And she meets her lips. Nothing tender. There is a certain ferocity in the way Azula trapped Ty Lee in her arms and does not let go. She likes it.

They started with a sizeable seven. Then the human shields eventually dwindle into four. Aang is proving to be a crafty, dangerous player. He did not get that eleven for nothing.

It was only after Mai was killed that they announce the twist. Two tributes from the same district can go home. Zuko and Azula look at each other for they are the only team left besides the so-called starcrossed lovers Aang and Katara. Brothers and sisters too, even if they disagree with one another most of the time.

The Capitol spares no one.

Seven tributes remaining. The alliance really should have broken up by now. But Azula lets her stick around even though Zuko seems to be very willing to shove a sword in her throat. The three of them are a team, she said. Now that Mai is gone, she said. Ty Lee is an ally she said.

Five remaining.

Zuko is dead. Aang and Katara are as tenacious as ever. Resourceful Suki is out there somewhere. Meanwhile as her brother was beheaded right before her, Azula is slowly losing her grip on reality and it is only Ty Lee who tethers her back from doing stupid things.

No alliance should last until the last five. Ty Lee should kill her now. She knows her district must be screaming for her to do so. But the Azula who she watched kill six teenagers is curled up right beside her, trusting and innocent. She would wake Ty Lee up with a kiss. They would hold hands as they hunt for other lives.

Ty Lee has no idea why she stays.

All alliances inevitably break at the final two after all.

…..

….

 **Mutant AU**

She would think the thick, black, leather gloves to be odd if she is not wearing such a yellow obnoxious lanyard that marks her as the minority. Ten percent of the population. These "abominations" are people the government is still trying to "turn back". Ty Lee does not get it at all. Azula is far from an abomination.

She is perfect.

"I agree with you." She would say, ever the self effacing jokester. But this is not merely a case of exaltation. Azula advocates mutant rights so passionately Ty Lee begins to believe they would soon rule the world.

She does not mind.

Ty Lee has seen Azula do it. The way she burns and burns and burns everything on sight with just a flick of a finger. It is beautiful and yet…

"Don't touch me."

She burns everything she touches as well.

"For you, I won't mind getting burned." She is naive then that it is so much of a wonder how she is still alive. Azula only laughs at this and tells her to only look at Zuko's face and come back to her only when she is really convinced that she does not mind.

Mutants are an abomination because they destroy. The news and propaganda are partly right on that one. Azula's power is an uncontrollable mutation that once burned their childhood home, scarred her own brother and killed her youngest sister. At seventeen, even the gloves that they have made especially for her melt. She is there when it happened and it is only pure instinct when Ty Lee reaches for her girlfriend's dangerous hands and tries to remove the burning leather off.

Even as Azula's hand slapped hers away, she is unharmed.

She learns later that some mutations can negate as much as some destroy. The ability to nullify the effects of any mutation is by no means an undocumented study. She is nothing special. But she is thankful for the ability to make people normal for an hour with just a single touch. Azula's fear is irrational after all.

But then…

"Don't touch me." And she swats the hand once more. The flames do not harm her and for a second there, she can feel Azula's temperature drop.

But she does not, never reaches out for her. Even as she became the perfect contrast to her destructive ability.

"Don't you dare take my power again, even if just for a fucking second."

Azula prefers keeping her fire over holding Ty Lee's hand.

…..

….

 **Divergent AU**

Sixteen and the last thing Ty Lee wants now is to conform. She has always been a rebel, the aberrant, the one that differs in their matched set. She has forced herself to be. Looking exactly like her six sisters is enough to shy away from being like everyone else.

She wants to be different. She wholeheartedly believes that she is. But she gets the same results as the rest of her sisters during the Test and she does not know why.

She is different from them. She is nothing like them. She is not the type to pursue equality like her sisters are used to doing. She does not believe in fairness. She wants to stand out, not receive the same things as they do. But oddly enough, Candor is what she gets. Like her sisters. Like they all expected her to.

And of course because Ty Lee is a rebel at heart, she takes the drastic way out. The thunderous applause follow as the word "Dauntless" reverberates. She relishes on the horrified looks her parents sport. Her sisters are impressed.

She is not sad when they warn her they will never see each other again. Of course, they react through underestimation. You cannot do it. You will not make it past their initiation. You do not have what it takes.

You will be factionless.

But she believes herself to be fearless and never cursed by the cowardice the Dauntless try to eradicate. She is not afraid to be different. She is not afraid to take risks. She does not fear anything.

Then intimidating, no, terrifying trainer Azula barks orders, pushes her off a building, injects chemicals to her bloodstream that make her hallucinate and smirks all throughout her struggle.

Azula who is as clever and well-informed as an Erudite.

Azula who maintains fairness as any Candor.

Azula who is as fearless as Ty Lee now realizes she should be.

And Ty Lee knows fear in the guise of mischievous golden eyes, the nasty shrill of almost impossible commands and the beautiful face that signals a nightmarish day between being a member of a very popular group versus the destitution of the Factionless.

But Azula can be as selfless as those in Abnegation.

And as kind, at times as those in Amity.

Seven months later, Ty Lee realizes she fears losing this fearless, perfect girl more than she initially feared her. She prizes their kisses, their touches and the nights they cuddle together. She is thankful of the day she is fearless enough to be a Dauntless and strong enough to keep it that way.

Nights with her, she cherishes and she never wanted it to end.

But...

She is in love with a woman the government decided should not exist.

...

...

 **Maleficent AU**

Azula is the queen of the dark side, her flames of magic white, powerful and relentless as she reins in a part of a world torn by civil war when Ty Lee first meets her.

She is not the best person to be stuck with, much less as an eternally loyal servant. One can easily overlook the absolute perfection, the beauty this Evil Queen exudes for her inate cruelty is that one thing that she is known best for. Not the piercing gold orbs that make her melt. Not the lips that she is drawn to watching everytime it moves. "You are my servant." And Ty Lee the Graceful Swan trembles.

But she is not always like this, Azula's enslaved subjects tell her. The "princess" was once a wide eyed prodigous child concerned only for the betterment of the kingdom. She wore a smile that is now gone. She wields power that is now corrupted with the wiles of sin and vengeance.

All because she cannot forgive her brother.

But there is something that sparks when she watches the child she has cursed grow. Izumi reminds Ty Lee of the Azula the others say once existed. Izumi reminds Ty Lee of the person Azula still has a chance of becoming again.

"There is still a chance." Ty Lee tells her master as the latter anguishes. The curse could not be undone even by the caster. Redemption does not matter to the product of revenge. Izumi would still fall into eternal sleep in her sixteenth birthday. "True love's first kiss."

"The reason why I set that condition is because there is none." Azula sounds like she believes it. "There is no true love."

But I love… Ty Lee holds her tongue.

Azula never listens to her anyway. The great queen would never lend an ear to someone like her.

"Only you believe that." She settles.

…..

…..

 **Etiquette of a Mistress AU**

Azula has always the very epitome of female heterosexuality, a fantasy a man attuned to the latest in politics would shamelessly entertain. Many a perverted old man has shaken her hand too long. Many a bachelor has tried to catch her eye. Mai would have agreed how that two-dimensional bloke she has for a husband does not deserve her if only Azula has proven to be as likeable in person as she is in TV and electoral campaigns.

But she is Zuko's younger sister, the one person she has made the mistake of loving. Somehow, that matters in Mai's cynical, careless outlook in life. And though merely a mistress (for five years because she is hopelessly in love with a coward who cannot divorce his wife), she feels obligated to help, to see that another soul in the same predicament as her will not end up in the tabloids.

"Hi. I'm Ty Lee. Nice to meet you. I am sure we can get along. Who is your hairdresser? I like your hair. Maybe, we can do some malling. It is my first time here in the city but I already like what I see. So where's Azula?"

Azula's mistress looks dopey with eyes that look too big for her face, the opposite of masculine sophistication that is her husband. She talks mile a minute and she wonders how the irritable, princessy woman she has the misfortune of meeting can stand it. Maybe the sex is good. Mai somehow doubts that. But then this is not the first surprise of the day. She never would have thought that Azula of all people, the prim and proper senator, swings that way.

"I am here to teach you how to be a proper mistress. Now first…"

"When can I see Azula?" She can tell then that this one will be a handful. Like Sukibis proving to be.

"First rule: they only see us in their own terms. Don't call her. Don't be near her. Do not ever hint of even knowing her. Unless she tells you to."

"But that is tough. I miss her already."

Mai would tell her later that it is about to get tougher.

….

….

 **I reused The Hunger Games because the other one has been heavily inspired by electric gurll's Blood and Chrome and I realized after a marathon of the entire series that there are still several ways TyZula can fit in that AU.**

 **I would do these little sets once more so if you have any themes you want to see written, feel free to drop a word or two. I call that an effective and creative way to get recs. I need something to pass the time anyway.**


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